Article #1
Dentistry Today (2021). Pearl gets US patent for AI restoration technology. Web.
The article covers the new patent issued by the United States Patent Office, titled “Enhanced Techniques for Determination of Dental Margins in Intraoral Scans.” The new technology is meant to eliminate inconsistencies and improve the overall quality of dental restoration. Its creators even hope that they can achieve a zero return rate for restorations, which was unthinkable previously.
Quote #1
The main problem with dental restorations is that flaws are very common, and only a fraction of the product is impeccable. According to the article, “The vast majority of restorations, 80% or more, are suboptimal to one degree or another, but 3D convolutional neural network algorithms have proved exceptionally effective in tackling the root causes” (Dentistry Today, 2021, par. 3). This is the reason why new technologies look particularly promising.
Quote #2
The creators of the technology posit that their invention may revolutionize dental restoration. They remark: “A zero-return rate for restorations has always been considered an unattainable ideal, but we don’t see it that way” (Dentistry Today, 2021, par. 8). It is for the future to demonstrate whether these words are a boat or a prediction.
Article #2
Dentistry Today. (2020). “Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Varies Greatly Between Dentists.” Web.
The article describes a recent experiment concerning diagnosis and treatment planning by dentists in different countries. It shows that different dentists presented with the same full-mouth radiographic images made wildly different diagnoses and offered different treatment options. In particular, the study revealed vast cost differences in the treatment offered.
Quote #1
The first main point of the article is that dentists make vastly different decisions. According to the text, “Across study results, diagnoses and treatment plans varied significantly from dentist to dentist” (Dentistry Today, 2020, par. 4). It demonstrates the sheer variability of approaches that professionals within the same field tend to have.
Quote #2
Another important point is that the treatment costs varied as greatly as diagnoses. The article notes that “most striking among the results… was the variability across whole-mouth treatment costs” (Dentistry Today, 2020, par. 7). This facto was the main reason for the researchers’ concern after completing the study.